The invention relates generally to fire alarm systems, and, more particularly, to providing occupancy information in a fire alarm system.
Many commercial and residential buildings and other premises include a fire alarm system that monitors the different areas or zones of the premises for the presence of fire and other emergency events. The fire alarm system may generate an alarm when a fire and/or other emergency event has been detected to indicate to security personnel of the premises the location within the premises in which the fire and/or other emergency event has been detected. The fire alarm system may also request dispatch of a fire department and/or other emergency response services, such as, ambulance services and/the like, to the premises for help responding to the fire and/or other emergency event.
Whether by the fire alarm system and/or the security personnel, the fire department and other emergency response service(s) may sometimes be provided with the location of the fire and/or other emergency event within the premises. Accordingly, the fire department and other emergency response service(s) can immediately begin to respond to the fire and/or other emergency event upon arrival at the premises. However, the fire department and other emergency response service(s) are typically not provided with any information that indicates where different individuals are located within the premises, for example in relation to the fire and/or other emergency event. The fire department and other emergency response service(s) may therefore be less capable of assisting and/or protecting the individuals within the premises. For example, fire department and other emergency response service(s) may therefore be less capable of directing individuals away from the fire or other emergency event, evacuating the individuals, and/or providing medial assistance to the individuals. Moreover, searching for where individuals are located within the premises may waste time and/or resources, for example individual firefighters, equipment, and/or other emergency workers, that may otherwise be used to respond to the fire and/or other emergency event.
There is a need to provide fire departments and other emergency response services with information during a fire and/or other emergency event about where individuals are located within a premises.